The True Color Of Green Dot

Corporations for quite some time have known that they need not only promote the availability of their wares to the general public in order to bolster sales, but they must ensure that their promotions reach an audience that is in need of their product. Any particular sub-group of potential consumers can generally be referred to as a demographic. Demographics are important to the advertising efforts of marketing campaigns in insuring that a products information reaches not just the general public but the portion of it which are most in need or whom will possess the greatest desire for the goods being sold. Demographics can be dictated by a great number of factors, ranging from the specific time of day product info is disseminated, to the assumed preferences of those most likely to be in the audience of a particular medium or the format in which it is being represented, to the choice in geographic location where a products information/service shown. This process helps to insure that companies get the most out of their advertising dollars spent. A simple example would be Saturday morning cartoons, during which the commercial breaks primarily contain advertisements for products that would interest the children whom are the assumed viewers of these shows.

This lengthy introduction leads to my short qualm. Simply put, I find myself to be increasingly annoyed by the growing presumptuous attitudes of businesses in the demographics that they target with their advertising. Similar to my reasoning as for why the ACLU should be called the ACLUseless, the mass comforting and the pandering to of any particular sect of society that is viewed or treated as less than only propagates it's existence as inferior rather than impel into an improving trend of progress. This counter productive practice seems to be employed in a growing number of television ad campaigns. Regardless of research backed reasoning used as indemnification for accepted marketing traditions, there is no excuse for the exploitive manner in which companies now use minority spokespeople and actors to advertise it's services which when prejudicially viewed apply only to a certain class of consumer.

Up until now I have repeatedly shook off the proverbial straw which has come in many forms. The most recent and the incitation for the voicing of my disturbance was a recent ad for Green Dot prepaid credit cards. Throughout the commercial, one dramatized user of a Green Dot card after another appears on the screen testifying to the ease and convenience of these cards. None of these individuals appear to be Caucasian and the lack of need for a high tier credit rating is constantly reiterated, thus giving the impression that those possessing a low credit rating are predominantly minorities. Out of curiosity I visited Green Dot's corporate webpage (https://www.getmygreen.com). I was not surprised to see each page on their site was garnished by a single picture of a minority or minority family. The site also contains an instructional video on how to add funds to your card which to the company's credit does contain a few white actors.

It would seem that due to the subprime mortgage crisis the record losses that have recently been posted by financial lending institutions that credit lenders would have a more open mind as to who might make up their potential target base but alas it seems as though they would prefer to secure the market and attempt to recoup any losses by continuing to hi-lite the socially and commercially instilled inequities of certain classes of the populous.

As one would expect, Green Dot prepaid credit cards can be acquired at the following locations: Walmart, RadioShack, fry's, Food4Less, and other nationally syndicated discount retailers.